Drew has this old Guess Who? game that we used to pull out whenever we were home from New York and killing time at his parents’ house. They finally sent it back to our apartment with us today, in the last box of his old stuff, and so we sat down to play a game.

But it’s too easy. I mean, the game is for 6-year-olds, and the box suggests questions like, “Does your person wear glasses?” and “Does your person have blue eyes?” Which…I thought you’re supposed to ask second-person questions? “Do you have a hat on?” and “Do you look like an escaped convict?”

So in the past, in order to give the game an extra twist, we’ve restricted questions about gender, and anything to do with color. But the game still lasts all of about 4 turns each, or about 60 seconds.

So today we started a new rule: Only questions about their occupations.

We played three games this way, and it does take longer.
1) You have to study all the faces you have left and come up with a good occupation that would help you narrow it down: “Are you in fashion?”
2) Then you have to interpret the other player’s response: “Um…yeah? Yeah, I guess so” is a very different response from, “OMG yes.”
3) Then you have to apply that response to all the faces, and use your best judgment whether or not to flip that little person down.

It was actually much harder than regular Guess Who? In fact, no one won any of the three games we played. Every game ended something like:

“Are you Sam?”

“No! I’m Max!”

“What?? Oh, I guess Max might be a waiter.”

This was our Guess Who? swansong, because Drew is going to donate the game to his work. But I did like the 10 minutes of fun it provided this afternoon!

I played this game for hours with my kids when they were young. So, you can likely deduce that thousands of games were literally played!! We use to try to change it up a bit to try to make it more challenging as well. The occupation idea was a good one!

Hahaha! I liked this! Maybe if I can find the old Guess Who from when I was a kid, I’d totally play it that way. It’s definitely much more interesting than the conventional way. I do remember one character where we didn’t know if it was a guy or a girl…damned if I remember who it was. The confusion it caused afterward was hilarious though :-P

OMG,. you just brought up some amazing memories of my boys & I with that game…I had forgotten that one. I like your spin on it though, ha, ha, ha! Thanks for sharing! Can never have too many happy memories…

Is the American Guess who different to the UK one? It sounds the same but the photos look a lot more cartoon-y than the UK one?
Great adaptation to the game, I like your game playing! – any ways to mix up connect 4 next??

Sometimes the best games are the ones for kids. I think we all, as adults, get a bit nostalgic when it comes to kids games. We remember what it was like to be a kid and play things like Sorry or Hungry Hungry Hippo…two of which I am always happy to play when my kids ask. On Ellen last week Greg Kinear mentioned a kids game called Safetyville, it sounds kookie and odd and I must have it!

Oh I know the feeling of Guess Who being far too easy once you are past the age of 7.. My dad got bored quickly with it and we started picking 3 (or more) cards and the other person had to guess all 3! It really made you think of some good questions :)

Funny I saw this post. My kids have been playing Guess Who Extra Electric Game religiously. It folds up nicely to make it very portable. They take turns carrying it. They call it their laptop. The different types of things they can be make this a lot harder than the original ie. animals, monsters, or appliances.

At the risk of sounding racist, my friends and I play Guess Who at least once a week, but with a twist. We ask questions like, “Does your person enjoy watching The View?” or “Is your person a member of AARP?” or “Would you make it through airport security?” It’s such a blast poking fun at stereotypes, so long as no one overhears us and actually thinks we believe the things we’re saying!

Erin and Drew and Joe and I have played a bunch of Guess Who? games, just verbally, with theatre people. (I guess that’s just 20 questions.) I’m 100% sure that at least one time the answer has been “the green visor lady.”

That is such an amazing idea! I love playing this game with my friends and we always run into the same problem. I like the challenge you’ve added Guess Who and cannot wait to see what professions my friends and I will come up with.

Yes!! Any time you had a female or someone with glasses, you were screwed. They should make a new version of this game with celebrities and other famous people. Could you imagine asking, “Is this person talented?” or “Is this person smart?” When former presidents, singers, and TV personalities are on the board? Thanks for the trip down memory lane!

Hehehe your post made me smile :). I’ve been meaning to pick this up for my students. I teach English, and so this can be a challenging game for adults–if it’s played in a new foreign language. I love your rule change–sounds interesting and fun.

I LOVE this game!:D lol! Some of the kids I babysat played this game all the time, and eventually I wanted to join. I agree as well that is too easy. haha Thanks for sharing the ideas! I want to purchase the game and try it out. lol

PS: I forget. Are you able to detach the pictures so you can mix them up? You can obviously tell which person is which when it is the last one standing right? lol

That might be the best reinvention of a game ever. I can remember playing it in junior high for some reason, and never really thought about how easy it would be nowadays, Though trying to explain it to my 3 year-old niece was difficult last Christmas…

I had forgotten about that old game!! I used to love it! As well as all memory games- I had this one with different plants and animals and you had to match the tiles by memory…. love your modern twist on an old classic, lol!

I love this game and play it with my niece and nephew all the time.
To make it harder, we each have three cards, so the questions are always “do any of your people have….?” I will try out social stereotypes with them next!

I played this game for hours with my kids when they were young. So, you can likely deduce that thousands of games were literally played!! We use to try to change it up a bit to try to make it more challenging as well. The occupation idea was a good one!

Yea, guess who is one of my all time favorite games to play to kill time when I was growing up.
It was interesting to read about the little twists that you guys put on the game though. I would have never thought about using occupation.

Guess Who is such a classic game. I have played with my cousin recently and realized the same questions kept coming up about colour hair, eyes, gender. I love your spin on the game. I will try it some time.